Techniques for client constructed sessions

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for authentication generate keys from secret credentials shared between authenticating parties and authenticators. Generation of the keys may involve utilizing specialized information that, as a result of being used to generate the keys, renders the generated keys usable for a smaller scope of uses than the secret credential. Further, key generation may involve multiple invocations of a function where each of at least a subset of the invocations of the function results in a key that has a smaller scope of permissible use than a key produced from a previous invocation of the function. Generated keys may be used as signing keys to sign messages. One or more actions may be taken depending on whether a message and/or the manner in which the message was submitted complies with restrictions of the a key&#39;s use.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application incorporates by reference for all purposes the fulldisclosure of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/248,962,filed concurrently herewith, entitled “PARAMETER BASED KEY DERIVATION”and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/248,973, filedconcurrently herewith, entitled “KEY DERIVATION TECHNIQUES.”

BACKGROUND

Computing environments take many forms. As an example, organizationsoften utilize networks of computing devices to provide a robust set ofservices to their users. Networks often span multiple geographicboundaries and often connect with other networks. An organization, forexample, may support its operations using both internal networks ofcomputing resources and computing resources managed by others. Computersof the organization, for instance, may communicate with computers ofother organizations to access and/or provide data while using servicesof another organization. In many instances, organizations configure andoperate remote networks using hardware managed by other organizations,thereby reducing infrastructure costs and achieving other advantages.

While diverse computing environments have proven useful for a widevariety of applications, such environments present many challenges. Forexample, configuring computer resources in furtherance of oneorganizational goal can adversely affect furtherance of anotherorganizational goal. For example, effective management of computingresource security can often come at the cost of efficient access to dataand services. Balancing the goals of security and efficiency can bequite challenging, often requiring significant effort and resources.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a computing environment that canbe used to implement various aspects of the present disclosure inaccordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative example of an environment that includes acomputing resource provider that manages multiple fault zones inaccordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative example of an environment inside of a faultzone of FIG. 2, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative example of a computing resourceconfiguration that can be used to support an environment such as theenvironment shown in FIG. 3, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a diagram that illustrates an example manner in which variouselements participating in a computing environment may be allocateddifferent scopes of authority in accordance with at least oneembodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example manner in which informationmay be communicated among participants in a message signatureverification process in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process forsigning messages in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process forsignature verification in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example manner of distributing keysin accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example manner of distributing keysin a manner that provides various scopes of authority in accordance withat least one embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process ofkey derivation in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating multiple-restriction key derivationsin accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 13 is an illustrative example of a function for deriving asignature, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 14 is an illustrative example of how multiple key derivation may beperformed and used in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example manner in which keys may bederived, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating another example manner in which keysmay be derived, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating yet another example manner in whichkeys may be derived, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process forinitiating a session, in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process forgenerating a session key, in accordance with at least one embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process forobtaining access to one or more computing resources during a session inaccordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process fordetermining whether to grant requested access to one or more computingresources in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process fordelegating authority in accordance with at least one embodiment;

FIG. 23 is a diagram representing an illustrative example of multipledelegations of authority in accordance with at least one embodiment; and

FIG. 24 is a diagram representing an illustrative example of a manner inwhich keys may be derived using keys from multiple authorities.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, various embodiments will be described. Forpurposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments.However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that theembodiments may be practiced without the specific details. Furthermore,well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscurethe embodiment being described.

Techniques described and suggested herein include systems and methodsfor key generation, in accordance with various embodiments. The keys maybe used for various purposes, such as authentication and participationin message signing schemes. In an embodiment, a computing resourceprovider provides computing services to customers based at least in parton electronic requests received from user devices of the services. Theservices may be any suitable service that may be offered including, butnot limited to, access to data, access to computing resources to performoperations, access to data storage services, and the like.

To ensure that services are provided in a secure manner, variousembodiments of the present disclosure utilize techniques to authenticaterequests (also referred to as “messages”) to ensure that the requestsare legitimate. In an embodiment, requests are authenticated using aHash Message Authentication Code (HMAC) algorithm or other suitablealgorithm, as discussed in more detail below.

In an embodiment, both the authenticating party (e.g., user of servicesor party acting on behalf of the user) and the authenticator (e.g.,provider of services or party acting on behalf of the provider) share asecret credential, which may be referred to as a key. An authenticatormay store shared secret credentials for multiple users. As part of atransaction, the authenticating party may sign requests using the sharedsecret credential, thereby forming a signature. The signature may beprovided to the authenticator with the requests. The authenticator mayuse its own copy of the shared secret credential to generate a signaturefor the received requests and, by comparing if the generated signaturematches the received signature (for example by being identical to thereceived signature), determine whether the requests were signed usingthe shared secret credential. If determined that the requests weresigned using the shared secret credential, the requests may beconsidered authentic and, therefore, it may be determined that therequests should be fulfilled.

Because the interaction above is symmetric (i.e., both utilize commoninformation when performing their roles), the shared secret credentialsthat an authenticator keeps can be used to both authenticateauthenticating parties or to act on their behalf. As a result, a highdegree of security is desirable to protect these credentials.Maintaining high degrees of security may have negative performance andavailability consequences. For example, maintaining a high degree ofsecurity may include maintaining a centralized system for key storage.Such centralized systems, however, may cause a scaling bottleneck sincethe addition of users and/or services causes a greater burden to thecentralized system. If such a centralized system fails, it may bedifficult or impossible to authenticate requests. Thus, centralizationprovides both advantages for security and disadvantages for scaling andavailability of services.

In an embodiment, negative impacts of such systems (and other systems)are reduced by utilizing a signing protocol that derives from sharedsecret credentials artifacts that may be used to prove that anauthenticating party has a shared secret credential and, therefore, islikely authorized to obtain access specified in requests signed with theartifacts. In an embodiment, such artifacts are obtained by configuringauthenticator computer systems to accept as a signature a value that isbased at least in part on a derivation of a shared credential, insteadof the shared credential itself. The derivation of the shared credentialmay be such that, as described more fully below, the derivation does notallow for practical determination of the shared credential.

For example, in an embodiment, authenticating parties are able to signsignatures withHMAC(M,HMAC(X,credential)),where M is a message, and HMAC(X, credential) is an artifact derivedfrom a shared secret credential. The value for X may be some value thatis known both by the authenticating party and the authenticator, and maybe publicly available. For example, X may be a current date, encoded ina predetermined manner to ensure that HMAC(X, credential) is computedconsistently by the authenticating party and the authenticator. Asanother example, X may be an identifier of a service with which theartifact is usable. As yet another example, X may encode multiplesemantic meanings and be provided in a manner such that both theauthenticating party and the authenticator consistently compute theartifact. The semantic meaning may be a restriction on use of the key,including meaning that indicates that no further derivations form thekey should be used. Combining previous examples of the presentparagraph, X may be encoded as “20110825/DDS” where the string left ofthe slash represents a date and the string right of the slash representsthe name of a service with which an artifact computed with X is usable.Generally, X may be any value or set of values encoded consistently forboth the authenticating party and the authenticator. It should be notedthat other suitable functions other than HMAC functions may be used, asdiscussed below.

Returning to the example utilizing HMACs, in an embodiment, values for Xare chosen to provide additional advantages. As noted, X may (but doesnot necessarily) correspond to one or more semantic meanings Semanticmeanings such as time stamps, service names, regional names, and thelike are used, in an embodiment, to provide a system where artifactscreated in accordance with techniques of the present disclosure providecorresponding restrictions on use of keys derived from X. In thismanner, even though compromise of keys generated may allowauthentication by undesired parties, restrictions used to encode keysallow for the adverse effects to be minimized when keys are compromised.As an example, time restrictions used to derive keys provide anefficient way for a system to check if a submitted signature was signedwith a key that was valid at the time of signature submission. As aconcrete example, if a current date is used to derive a key and anauthenticator system only accepts signatures submitted on the currentdate, the authenticator system will determine that signatures generatedusing keys derived with different dates are invalid. Similarly, a keyderived with an identifier of a particular service would be invalid foruse with another service. Other examples are provided below.

As noted, various techniques of the present disclosure allow formultiple parameters to be used to derive keys. In an embodiment, keysare derived from multiple parameters through multiple use of an HMACfunction. For example, a key may be computed as follows:K _(S)=HMAC( . . . HMAC(HMAC(HMAC(K,P ₁),P ₂),P ₃) . . . ,P _(N)),where K is a shared secret credential and the P, are parameters. Thekey, K_(S), may be used to generate a signature, such as:S=HMAC(K _(S) ,M),where M is a message, which may be canonicalized. In this manner, thekey is derived in a layered manner, allowing for partial derivations ofthe key to be passed to various components of a distributed system. Forexample, K_(P1)=HMAC(K, P₁) may be computed and passed on to one or morecomponents of a distributed system. The components that receive K_(P1)may compute K_(P2)=HMAC(K_(P1), P₂), where P₂ may be the same for eachcomponent or different for some or all components. The values for K_(P2)calculated by the various components may pass the calculations to othercomponents of the distributed systems which may computeK_(P3)=HMAC(K_(P2), P₃). Each component may cache the results itcalculates, and possible results computed and calculated by othercomponents. In this manner, more security may be provided around a datastore that stores shared secret keys because computations of derivedkeys may be performed by other components of the distributed system.

Techniques of the present disclosure also provide for the initiation ofsessions. For example, as discussed, a shared secret credential and oneor more parameters may be used to derive a key. Accordingly, parametersfor a session may be used to generate a credential that may be usedduring the session. The credential may be used by the user thatrequested or, in some embodiments, by a user to whom the credential waspassed and to whom access to one or more computing resources has beendelegated. In such instances, because a delagatee of such access uses akey derived from a shared secret credential, but not the shared secretcredential itself, a higher level of security is maintained and there isno need to rotate the shared secret credential to prevent future use bythe delegatee. As discussed in more detail below, delegatees may alsobecome delegators using techniques of the present disclosure, many ofwhich are described in more detail below.

FIG. 1 illustrates aspects of an example environment 100 forimplementing aspects of the present disclosure in accordance withvarious embodiments. As will be appreciated, although a Web-basedenvironment is used for purposes of explanation, different environmentsmay be used, as appropriate, to implement various embodiments. Theenvironment includes an electronic client device 102, which can includeany appropriate device operable to send and receive requests, messages,or information over an appropriate network 104 and convey informationback to a user of the device. Examples of such client devices includepersonal computers, cell phones, handheld messaging devices, laptopcomputers, set-top boxes, personal data assistants, electronic bookreaders, and the like. The network can include any appropriate network,including an intranet, the Internet, a cellular network, a local areanetwork, or any other such network or combination thereof. Componentsused for such a system can depend at least in part upon the type ofnetwork and/or environment selected. Protocols and components forcommunicating via such a network are well known and will not bediscussed herein in detail. Communication over the network can beenabled by wired or wireless connections, and combinations thereof. Inthis example, the network includes the Internet, as the environmentincludes a Web server 106 for receiving requests and serving content inresponse thereto, although for other networks an alternative deviceserving a similar purpose could be used as would be apparent to one ofordinary skill in the art.

The illustrative environment includes at least one application server108 and a data store 110. It should be understood that there can beseveral application servers, layers, or other elements, processes, orcomponents, which may be chained or otherwise configured, which caninteract to perform tasks such as obtaining data from an appropriatedata store. As used herein the term “data store” refers to any device orcombination of devices capable of storing, accessing, and retrievingdata, which may include any combination and number of data servers,databases, data storage devices, and data storage media, in anystandard, distributed, or clustered environment. The application servercan include any appropriate hardware and software for integrating withthe data store as needed to execute aspects of one or more applicationsfor the client device, handling a majority of the data access andbusiness logic for an application. The application server providesaccess control services in cooperation with the data store, and is ableto generate content such as text, graphics, audio, and/or video to betransferred to the user, which may be served to the user by the Webserver in the form of HTML, XML, or another appropriate structuredlanguage in this example. The handling of all requests and responses, aswell as the delivery of content between the client device 102 and theapplication server 108, can be handled by the Web server. It should beunderstood that the Web and application servers are not required and aremerely example components, as structured code discussed herein can beexecuted on any appropriate device or host machine as discussedelsewhere herein.

The data store 110 can include several separate data tables, databases,or other data storage mechanisms and media for storing data relating toa particular aspect. For example, the data store illustrated includesmechanisms for storing production data 112 and user information 116,which can be used to serve content for the production side. The datastore also is shown to include a mechanism for storing log data 114,which can be used for reporting, analysis, or other such purposes. Itshould be understood that there can be many other aspects that may needto be stored in the data store, such as for page image information andto access right information, which can be stored in any of the abovelisted mechanisms as appropriate or in additional mechanisms in the datastore 110. The data store 110 is operable, through logic associatedtherewith, to receive instructions from the application server 108 andobtain, update, or otherwise process data in response thereto. In oneexample, a user might submit a search request for a certain type ofitem. In this case, the data store might access the user information toverify the identity of the user, and can access the catalog detailinformation to obtain information about items of that type. Theinformation then can be returned to the user, such as in a resultslisting on a Web page that the user is able to view via a browser on theuser device 102. Information for a particular item of interest can beviewed in a dedicated page or window of the browser.

Each server typically will include an operating system that providesexecutable program instructions for the general administration andoperation of that server, and typically will include a computer-readablestorage medium (e.g., a hard disk, random access memory, read onlymemory, etc.) storing instructions that, when executed by a processor ofthe server, allow the server to perform its intended functions. Suitableimplementations for the operating system and general functionality ofthe servers are known or commercially available, and are readilyimplemented by persons having ordinary skill in the art, particularly inlight of the disclosure herein.

The environment in one embodiment is a distributed computing environmentutilizing several computer systems and components that areinterconnected via communication links, using one or more computernetworks or direct connections. However, it will be appreciated by thoseof ordinary skill in the art that such a system could operate equallywell in a system having fewer or a greater number of components than areillustrated in FIG. 1. Thus, the depiction of the system 100 in FIG. 1should be taken as being illustrative in nature, and not limiting to thescope of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative example of an environment 200 that includesa computing resource provider 202 that manages multiple fault zones 204in accordance with at least one embodiment. A computing resourceprovider, in an embodiment, is an organization that operates computerhardware on behalf of one or more customers 206. The computing resourceprovider may provide computing resources in various ways. For example,in an embodiment, the computing resource provider 202 manages hardwarethat is configured for use by customers 206. The computing resourceprovider 202 provides an interface that allows the customers 206 toprogrammatically configure computing resources using the hardware. Forexample, the computing resource provider may maintain hardware serversthat execute virtual computer systems that are programmaticallycontrolled by the customer. As another example, the computing resourceprovider 202 may manage various data stores to provide remote datastorage solutions, such as high-durability data storage and block-leveldata storage.

A fault zone, in an embodiment, is a collection of computing resourcesthat are separated by one or more fault boundaries such that each faultzone is tolerant to a fault of another fault zone. As an example, eachfault zone 204 may be a separate data center. Thus, if one data centerceases being operational, perhaps due to a power outage or otherdisruptive event, other data centers may continue to operate. The faultzones may be each located in different geographic locations and some orall of the fault zones may be separated by geopolitical boundaries. Forexample, two or more of the fault zones may be in different countries.It should be noted that, for the purpose of illustration, the presentdisclosure provides numerous examples where fault zones are datacenters. However, fault zones can be defined in numerous other ways. Forexample, separate rooms in the same data center may be consideredseparate fault zones in accordance with various embodiments. As anotherexample, computing resources in the same location, but supported bydifferent backup power generators and/or supported by different networkresources, may be considered different fault zones. As yet anotherexample, data centers may be clustered such that each cluster of datacenters may be considered a fault zone. Further, there may be manyreasons a fault zone may fail, including reasons relating to power gridoperation, public network operation, political assertions of power, andother reasons.

In an embodiment, customers 206 communicate with the computing resourceprovider 202 over a network 208, such as the Internet. The customers 206may have resources configured in one or more of the fault zones 204 andmay communicate with the resources by sending electronic messages, suchas messages invoking a web-service application programming interface(API) of the computing resource provider in order to configure andoperate the resources. Customers may utilize resources in multiple faultzones in order to decrease the effects of potential failures that impactthe customers' resources. A customer who utilizes resources of thecomputing resource provider 202 to operate a publicly accessible websitemay, for example, maintain web and other servers in separate fault zonesso that, if servers in one fault zone fail, the public may still accessthe web site by accessing servers in another fault zone.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative example of an environment 300 inside of afault zone 302, which may be a fault zone of a computing resourceprovider as illustrated in FIG. 2. The fault zone 302, in an embodiment,includes computing resources that are used to provide various serviceson behalf of customers. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the faultzone 302 includes computing resources that are used to provide a durabledata storage service, which may cheaply and redundantly store relativelylarge amounts of data on behalf of customers. Such a service may be usedwhen large amounts of data storage and/or security of the data storageis required, but when input/output performance is not high priority. Thefault zone 302 may also include a block data storage service 306 whichprovides the use of block-level storage devices, physical devices and/orvirtual, to customers. The customers, for example, may attachblock-level storage devices to computer systems also utilized by thecustomers. Also illustrated is a virtual computer system service 308which may provide computing services for customers. In an embodiment,the virtual computer system service 308 provides computing services byimplementing virtual computer systems for the customers on physicalservers maintained by the computing resource provider, althoughvariations are possible, such as where physical computer systems areallocated to customers for customer use. In an embodiment related tovirtual computer systems, the customers may programmatically manage thevirtual computer systems according to their needs. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 3, customers may configure virtual computer systemsof the virtual computer system service 308 to server customers of thecustomers of the virtual computing service provider. The virtualcomputer systems, for instance, may be configured to operate a publiclyaccessible website. Both the customers of the virtual computing resourceprovider and the customers' customers may, in various embodiments,access the various services operated in the fault zone 302 bycommunicating with the services over a network 310, which may be thenetwork 208 described above in connection with FIG. 2.

It should be noted that the various embodiments illustrated in FIG. 3,as with all illustrative embodiments shown in the Figures and describedherein, are illustrative in nature and that variations are considered asbeing within the scope of the present disclosure. For example, otherservices different from those illustrated may be provided in the faultzone 302 in addition to or instead of the services illustrated. Asillustrated by the ellipses in FIG. 3, for instance, additional servicesmay be operated in the fault zone 302. In addition, some services mayutilize other services. For example, multiple services (such as ablock-level data storage service 306 and a virtual computer systemservice 308) may be utilized together to provide other services, such asa relational database service, an electronic mail service, and,generally, any type of computing service that can be provided usingresources of a computing resource provider.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, each of the services of the computing resourceprovider may include a separate verifier 312. The verifier may be acomputing device, collection of computing devices, application module,or other resource that verifies various attestations made by customersand possibly by other computer systems. In an embodiment, each of theverifiers 312 verifies message signatures that are produced inaccordance with the various embodiments herein and then provided bycustomers in connection with requests to access computing resources, asdescribed in more detail below. Keys and other relevant information maybe propagated to the verifiers from a central key authority to enablethe verifiers to verify information. It should be noted that eachservice having a verifier is an illustrative example of a particularembodiment, but that other arrangements are within the scope of thepresent disclosure. For example, a single verifier may support multipleservices, even all services and may even support multiple fault zones.

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative example of a computing resourceconfiguration that can be used to support an environment such as theenvironment shown in FIG. 3, in accordance with at least one embodiment.FIG. 4 specifically shows a specific example where the fault zone inFIG. 3 is a data center. Accordingly, returning to FIG. 4, a data center402 may include multiple server racks 404-406. The data center 402 is anexample of one or more data centers that may be used in variousembodiments of the present disclosure, such as data centers shown inFIG. 4. The ellipsis between the server rack 404 and the server rack 406indicates that the data center 402 may include any suitable number ofserver racks although, for clarity, only two are shown in FIG. 4. Eachserver rack 404-406 may participate in maintaining services such aselectric power and data communications to multiple server computers408-414 and 416-422. Again, the ellipses indicate that the server racks404-406 may include any suitable number of server computers. Forexample, the server computers 408-422 may include one or more virtualcomputer system (VCS) servers and/or one or more data store servers.Each server 408-422 may correspond to an implementation resourcededication unit.

In FIG. 4, each server rack 404-406 is depicted as including a rackswitch 424-426. The rack switches 424 and 426 may be responsible forswitching packets of digital data to and from their respective sets ofserver computers 408-414 and 416-422. The rack switches 424-426 may becommunicatively linked to a data center switching fabric 428 and then toa set of edge routers 430 that connects the data center 402 to one ormore other computer networks including the Internet. The switchingfabric may include any suitable set of networking components includingmultiple interconnected switches 432-438 (for clarity, only four areshown in FIG. 4) of one or more switch types arranged in one or moreswitching layers, as well as routers, gateways, bridges, hubs,repeaters, firewalls, computers, and suitable combinations thereof. Inat least one embodiment, the rack switches 424-426 and the edge routers430 are considered part of the switching fabric 428. The rack switches424-426, the edge routers 430, and the components of the switchingfabric 428 are examples of the network hardware 224 of FIG. 2.

As noted above, various embodiments of the present disclosure allow forvarious levels of authority to be given for different reasons. FIG. 5 isa diagram that illustrates an example way of a manner in which variouselements participating in a computing environment may be allocateddifferent scopes of authority in accordance with at least oneembodiment. In FIG. 5, a computing resource provider 502 is illustrated.In an embodiment, the computing resource provider 502 has authority overits resources and, as illustrated in FIG. 5, is able to apportion thatauthority among various participants in the resources' use. It should benoted that, for the purpose of illustration consistent with otherillustrations and descriptions therein, FIG. 5 shows a computingresource provider 502 having authority over a domain. However,embodiments of the present disclosure are also applicable to othermasters of authority domains. For instance, a master of authority may bea government or governmental organization, a sub-organization of anotherorganization or, generally, any entity with authority over some domain.

Returning to the illustrative example of FIG. 5, the computing resourceprovider 502 manages its authority by allowing different sub-entities tohave authority over different sub-domains. For example, as shown in theFigure, each of a number of fault zones 504 of the computing resourceprovider are provided a corresponding sub-domain of the computingresource provider's 502 domain. Thus, each fault zone may have authorityover its own resources, but not resources of another fault zone(although, in some instances authority over some sub-domains may beshared). Thus, in accordance with an embodiment, a fault zone mayprovide user access to computing resources in the fault zone, but notaccess to computing resources of another fault zone.

As noted above, each fault zone may include one or more services 506.Accordingly, as illustrated in FIG. 5, each service may be responsiblefor a sub-domain of the domain of the corresponding fault zone 504.Thus, a service, in an embodiment, can provide access to resourcesaccessible by the service, but not to other services. Each service mayserve one or more customers 508 and, therefore, each customer may beresponsible for a sub-domain of authority of a corresponding service ofthe one or more services 506. Thus, in an embodiment, a customer mayprovide access to its own resources involved with a correspondingservice, but not to another customer's service. As a concreteillustrative example, if the service is a virtual computing resourceservice, a customer may provide access (such as public access) to itsown virtual computer systems, but not, without permission, to virtualcomputer systems of other customers.

As noted, the particular allocation of authority as illustrated in FIG.5 is for the purpose of illustration and numerous variations areconsidered as being within the scope of the present disclosure. Asnoted, embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable to domainsof authority outside of domains managed by computing resource providersand sub-domains may be determined according to particular needs andcircumstances. Further, FIG. 5 shows customers of a virtual resourceprovider having the smallest sub-domains of authority. However,techniques of the present disclosure may allow customer domains to bedivided into one or more sub-domains.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate to messagesignatures. FIG. 6 is a diagram 600 illustrating an example manner inwhich information may be communicated among participants in a messagesignature verification process in accordance with at least oneembodiment. In an embodiment, a key source 602 provides a key to both amessage submitter 604 and a signature verifier 606. The key source maybe a computer system configured to provide keys to at least the messagesubmitter 604 and the signature verifier 606. The key source may alsogenerate the keys using various techniques, including variousembodiments described herein or may obtain generated keys from anothersource. The message submitter 604 may be a computer system configured tosubmit a message and a signature to the signature verifier 606 or othercomponent that operates in connection with the signature verifier 606.The computer system of the message submitter 604 may be a computersystem of a customer of a computing resource provider, for example. Thesignature verifier 606 may be a computer system configured to receivemessages and signatures and analyze the signature to verify that themessage is authentic, as discussed below. Briefly, the signatureverifier 606 may analyze a received signature and message to determineif the signature was generated using the correct key K. It should benoted that, while FIG. 6 shows a key source 602 separate from themessage submitter 604 and signature verifier 606, either of the messagesubmitter or signature verifier could also be a key source. For example,customers of a computing resource provider may provide their own keys.Customer keys may then be provided to the signature verifier forverification of signatures. In addition, the message submitter 604 andsignature verifier 606 may each receive different keys from the keysource 602. For example, the message submitter 604 may receive a key andthe signature verifier 606 may receive a key that is derived, using thevarious embodiments of the present disclosure, from the key received bythe message submitter 604.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the signature verifier 606 receives messagesand corresponding signatures from the message submitter 604. Themessages may be, for example, electronic requests for access to acomputing service 608. The messages may, for instance, encode API callsto a web service. If analysis of the signature and message indicatesthat the messages are authentic, then the signature verifier notifiesthe service (or a component controlling access to the service) that themessage submitter can have the requested access. For example, thesignature verifier may pass the received message to the service toenable the service to fulfill the request. Accordingly, the service maybe a computer system operable to fulfill requests, such as the variousservices described above. It should be noted that, while variousdescriptions of various components of FIG. 6 and other componentsdescribe the components as possibly being implemented as computersystems configured to perform certain actions, components may alsocomprise multiple computing devices, such as networks of computingdevices, that are collectively configured to perform the actions.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process 700for signing messages in accordance with an embodiment. Some or all ofthe process 700 (or any other processes described herein, or variationsand/or combinations thereof) may be performed under the control of oneor more computer systems configured with executable instructions and maybe implemented as code (e.g., executable instructions, one or morecomputer programs, or one or more applications) executing collectivelyon one or more processors, by hardware, or combinations thereof. Thecode may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium, for example,in the form of a computer program comprising a plurality of instructionsexecutable by one or more processors. The computer-readable storagemedium may be non-transitory.

In an embodiment, the process 700 includes obtaining 701 a key K. Thekey can be obtained in any suitable manner. For example, the key may begenerated by a computer system performing the process 700. The key maybe electronically received by a computer system performing the process700. Generally, obtaining the key may be performed in any suitablemanner. The key may be any suitable key for a particular signaturealgorithm being utilized. For example, if a hash-based messageauthentication code (HMAC) scheme is being used with a secure hashalgorithm (SHA)-256 cryptographic hash function, the key may be asequence of bytes, such as a sequence of 64 or fewer bytes. Differentcryptographic hash functions, such as SHA-224, SHA-384, and SHA-512 mayalso be used.

In an embodiment, the process also includes canonicalizing a message Mto form a canonicalized message M_(c). Canonicalizing a message mayinclude arranging information in the message in a format that allows averifier to verify whether a signature of the message is valid.Generally, many information communication protocols transform the bitsthat comprise a message while leaving the message semanticallyidentical. As a result, two semantically identical messages may comprisedifferent sets of bits and, therefore, may result in differentsignatures. Accordingly, canonicalization allows for a straightforwardway of ensuring that a signature can be verified. It should be noted,however, that some embodiments of the present disclosure do not requiremessage canonicalization. For example, if various protocols beingutilized do not result in semantically identical messages comprisingdifferent sets of bits, canonicalization may not be necessary and may beomitted. Generally, canonicalization may be omitted in any instancewhere signature verification is able to proceed successfully withoutmanipulation of a signed message.

In an embodiment, a signature is generated by computing HMAC(K, M_(c)),where HMAC( ) is an HMAC function, such as described above. HMACfunctions have several properties that make them particularly useful forvarious embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, HMACfunctions can be computed efficiently by a computer system, therebyleaving computing resources available for other tasks. In addition, HMACfunctions are preimage resistant (non-invertable). For instance, given asignature S=HMAC(K, M) with K a key and M a message, essentially noinformation is gained about the key K. For example, from S it would becomputationally impossible or at least impractical to determine K fromS. HMAC functions are also second preimage resistant. In other words,given S=HMAC(K, M) and M, it is impossible or at least computationallyimpractical to determine a message M′ different from M such thatS=HMAC(K,M′). In addition, HMAC functions are forgery-resistant. Forinstance, given an oracle for S=HMAC(K, M), querying the oracle N times(N a positive integer) allows for the production of at most Nsignature-message pairs. In other words, given a set ofsignature-message pairs, it is impossible or computationally impracticalto determine the key or determine a function that will produce a correctsignature for a message not in the set.

While HMAC functions are particularly useful for various embodiments,other functions can be used. For example, any function with the aboveproperties of HMAC functions may be used. In addition, other functionsthat do not necessarily have all (or any) of the above properties can beused, such as in circumstances where security is not of primary concernand/or where security is a concern, but is maintained through othermechanisms. It should be noted that various illustrations of variousembodiments show specific inputs into HMAC functions, but thatvariations are possible. For example, the inputs to an HMAC function (orother function) may be different. As described above, for instance, oneinput is a key. However, this input may be derived from a key orotherwise based at least in part on a key. As an illustrative example,input may comprise a key with information, such as a signature schemeidentifier (perhaps a version identifier), that is added to the key as asuffix, prefix, or otherwise. As another example, input may beinformation that is obtained by use of a mapping of the key to theinformation, which may be another key. Similarly an input shown as amessage may be derived from a message. As another example variationconsidered as being within the scope of the present disclosure, thesignature may not be the output of an HMAC function, but one or morevalues that are derived from the output of a HMAC function (or othersuitable function). In some embodiments, the key and the message may bepassed into the function in the reverse order.

Returning to the description of FIG. 7, once the signature is generatedby computing HMAC(K,Mc), the signature and message M are provided 708 toa receiver, which may be a computing device that verifies signatures oranother computing device involved in a signature verification process,such as a computing device providing an interface for communication ofmessages and signatures. As with all embodiments explicitly describedherein, variations are considered as being within the scope of thepresent disclosure. For example, the canonicalized message M_(C) may beprovided to the receiver instead of or in addition to the message M. Inaddition, providing the message M and the signature to the receiver mayalso include providing other information, such as a key identifier thatmay be used to identify, in a data store that associates keys with keyidentifiers. Further, other information, such as parameters that encodepolicy, as discussed below, may be provided with the message M andsignature.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process 800for signature verification in accordance with at least one embodiment.The process 800 shown in FIG. 8 may be performed by a verifier, such asdescribed in FIG. 2. Further, the process 800 may be performed inresponse to receipt of a signature and a message, such as in response toanother computer system having performed the process 700 of FIG. 7. Inan embodiment, the process 800 includes obtaining 802 a key K, such asdescribed above. Obtaining a key K may also include other actions invarious embodiments. For instance, if the process 800 is used by acomputer system that verifies signatures generated from multiple keys(such as from multiple customers of a computing resource provider),obtaining the key K may include selecting the key from multiple keys ina data store. The data store may associate various keys with those thatsubmit signatures for verification. For instance, each customer of acomputing resource provider may have a key identifier (or several keyidentifiers) that is used to reference a data store and identify anappropriate key. The key identifier may be submitted in connection withsubmission of the message and its signature or may be otherwisedetermined, such as upon submission of login credentials. A recipient ofa key identifier (e.g. a message verifier) may reference a data store todetermine whether a key corresponding to the key identifier is in thedata store and, if not, may then generate the key itself, such as byusing the techniques described herein to derive the key directly orindirectly from a shared secret credential. To enable this, therecipient may have access to a key derivation path which, in anembodiment, is information that encodes information necessary to derivethe key from the information the recipient already has (e.g. a keyderived from a shared secret credential). This information may beprovided to the recipient form a submitter of a message with a signatureor otherwise may be made available to the recipient. For instance, therecipient may be programmed to automatically generate keys using itsassigned region and a code for the current date. Generally, any methodof obtaining the key that was used to generate the signature (or anotherkey that can be used to verify the signature, in some embodiments) canbe used. The receiver might also enforce policy regarding permissibleand impermissible key derivation paths with respect to the request athand or some other property known to the receiver.

In an embodiment, a signature S and message M are received 804. Thesignature S and message M may be received electronically from asubmitter, such as a computing device that performed the process 700 ofFIG. 7. The message M is then canonicalized 806 to determine M_(c), inaccordance with an embodiment. Canonicalization of the message M, invarious embodiments, ensures that the signature S can be verified.Accordingly, in an embodiment, the process 800 includes generating 808 asignature S′ by computing HMAC(K, M_(c)). In an embodiment, S′ is equalto HMAC(K, M_(c)), although S′ can be derived from HMAC(K, Mc), invarious embodiments. For the purpose of illustration, the remainder ofthe process 800 will be described with the assumption that S′=HMAC(K,M_(c)), but that numerous variations are within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

Accordingly, in an embodiment, a determination is made 810 whether S′ isequal to the received signature S. In other words, a determination ismade whether the received signature is sufficient, for example, becauseit is a signature that was generated using the key K. Thus, in anembodiment, if it is determined 810 that S′ and S are not equal, thenthe signature is 812 unverified. However, if the S′ is equal to S, thenthe signature is 814 verified. Depending on whether the signature isverified, appropriate action may be taken. For instance, if the messagewas a request for access to a computing resource, the requested accessmay be denied (at least temporarily). Similarly, if the message was arequest for access to the computing resource and the signature wasverified, the requested access may be granted. It should be noted,however, that the appropriate action to be taken can vary widely invarious embodiments depending on the reason(s) signatures are receivedand verified.

As noted above, various embodiments of the present disclosure apply tonumerous environments. In many environments, it is useful to havecentralized management of various aspects of security maintenance. FIG.9, for example, is a diagram 900 illustrating an example manner ofdistributing keys in accordance with at least one embodiment. In FIG. 9,a central key authority maintains one or more data stores (collectivelyreferred to as a “data store”) that contain various keys utilized by anorganization. The keys may correspond, for example, to users ofcomputing devices of the organization. Each user of a set of users may,for instance, be assigned one or more keys. In an embodiment, at leastsome keys correspond to customers (and/or users of the customers) of theorganization. For instance, in an embodiment, the organization is acomputing resource provider and each customer of the computing resourceprovider corresponds to one or more keys that allow the customers' usersto access computing resources maintained by the computing resourceprovider. Other adaptations of the process 800 of FIG. 8 in accordancewith the variations described above with FIG. 7 are also within thescope of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the key authority 902 propagates keys to aplurality of key zones 904. A key zone may be a domain of theorganization in which a received key is valid. For example, referring toFIG. 2, each key zone 904 may correspond to a fault zone, such as a datacenter. Key zones may be, but are not necessarily, geographicallydefined. For example, each key zone may correspond to a country, region,or other geographically defined region. Key zones may also be defined inother ways. For example, each key zone may correspond to a serviceprovided by a computing resource provider, to a customer of anorganization, and the like. While not illustrated as such, key zones mayhave sub-zones. For example, a key zone may correspond to a country.Inside the country may be multiple regions, each corresponding tosub-zones of the key zone. Keys may be propagated to sub-zones in suchembodiments.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, key zones 904 may propagate keys to one ormore verifiers 906 for the key zone. For instance, if a key zonecorresponds to a data center, a computing device of the data center maypropagate keys to verifiers for each of a plurality of servicessupported by computing resources in the data center. In this manner, theverifiers can be used to verify signatures submitted in connection withvarious requests. This relieves the computing resources of the keyauthority themselves from verifying signatures and also reduces latencyand bandwidth requirements, especially in instances where the keyauthority 902 is geographically distant from services to which requestsare made.

Key propagation may be made in various ways. In an embodiment, keys aredistributed over secure channels to various recipients. In someembodiments, the key authority propagates the same keys to each keyzone. Also, some keys may be usable in multiple key zones. The keyauthority 902 may propagate keys usable in multiple key zones to thosemultiple key zones while refraining from propagating those keys to keyzones where the keys cannot be used. Thus, in the example of a computingresource provider, the key authority 902 may propagate a key for acustomer only to those key zones where the customer is able to use thekey, such as data centers used to maintain computing resources of thecustomer.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure also provide for keypropagation in manners providing for numerous advantages. FIG. 10 is adiagram 1000 illustrating an example manner of distributing keys in amanner that provides various scopes of authority in accordance with atleast one embodiment. As with FIG. 10, the diagram 1000 includes a keyauthority 1002 with a key K that propagates keys, directly orindirectly, to various key zones 1004 and verifiers 1006, such as inaccordance with the above description in connection with FIG. 9. While,for the purpose of illustration, the diagram 1000 is described inconnection with a single key K, and keys derived from K, the embodimentsdescribed herein apply when the key authority performs such actions fornumerous keys.

As illustrated in FIG. 10, the key K is used as a basis for other keysderived from K. For example, from K, a key K₁ is derived and propagatedto a first key zone (Key Zone₁). As such, the key K₁ (or keys derivedfrom the key K₁) is usable in the first key zone, but not in other keyzones that do not have K₁ (or a key derived from the key K₁). Similarly,each of a number of other key zones receive corresponding different keysderived from the key K. It should be noted that, while FIG. 10 showskeys derived from the key K being propagated from the key authority 1002to corresponding key zones, variations are possible. For example, thekey K may be propagated to the key zones and each key zone that receivesthe key K may use the key K to derive one or more corresponding keys.For example, the key zone 1004 labeled “Key Zone₁” may receive the key Kand derive K₁. Generally, various tasks involved in key derivation andpropagation may be performed differently than illustrated in variousembodiments.

As shown in the illustrative example of FIG. 10, the keys received bythe key zones 1004 are used to derive keys that are propagated further.For example, referring to the key zone 1004 labeled “Key Zone₂,” a keyK₂ that is derived from the key K is used to derive additional keys K₂′and K₂″. The keys K₂′ and K₂″ are propagated to corresponding verifiers1006 for use by the verifiers 1006 in verifying signatures. Thus, averifier that receives K₂′ would, in an embodiment, be able to verify asignature generated using K₂′, whereas a verifier that did not receiveK₂′ would not be able to verify the signature. By propagating the keysin the manner illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10 (or variations thereof)advantages are achieved. For instance, by propagating the keys tonumerous verifiers in multiple locations instead of one or morecentralized verifiers, lower latency is achieved. In addition, referringto FIG. 10, by propagating derived keys to other devices that, in turn,derive additional keys, it is possible to spread computations overmultiple devices over multiple locations, thereby allowing for fasterkey derivation and increasing fault tolerance.

Derivations of keys may be performed in numerous ways. FIG. 11 is aflowchart showing an illustrative example of a process 1100 of keyderivation in accordance with at least one embodiment. In an embodiment,the process 1100 includes obtaining 1002 a key K_(i), such as in amanner described above. The key K_(i) may be any suitable key, such asdescribed above. In addition, the key K_(i) may be, but is notnecessarily, derived from another key, such as by performance of theprocess 1100 or another process. Upon obtaining the key K_(i), a new keyis derived from K_(i). In the illustrative example of FIG. 11, a new keyK K_(i+1) is computed as (or based at least in part on) HMAC(K_(i),R_(i+1)), where R_(i+1) is information identifying one or morerestrictions on the key K_(i+1). R_(i+1) may be, for instance, asequence of bits that encodes information indicating where the keyK_(i+1) is usable. For example, R_(i+1) may encode a key zone where thekey K_(i+1) may be used. Restrictions may be based at least in part ongeography, time, user identity, service, and the like. Examplerestrictions are provided in the description below.

Further, as discussed more below, the process 1100 may be used multipletimes to derive a key. For example, a key generated using the process1100 (or a variation thereof) may be used to generate another key, usingthe same or another restriction. Using the terminology in the figure,R_(i+1) may be, for instance, a sequence of bits that encodesinformation indicating where the key K_(i+1) could be used. K_(i+1)would become the key K_(i) for a next iteration of the process. Forexample, if the process 1100 was used to generate a key based on ageographic restriction, the key generated may be used to generate a keywith a date-based restriction. Such a process may be utilized multipletimes to use multiple restrictions to derive a key. As discussed morefully below, by using multiple restrictions to derive a key, one or moreverifiers can enforce policy while verifying signatures. As a briefillustrative example, as part of a signature verification process, averifier may determine an expected signature using a restriction, suchas an encoding of a current date. If a signature was provided that wasgenerated on a different date, then verification of the signature wouldfail, in accordance with an embodiment. Generally, if use of a signaturedoes not comply with a restriction used to derive a key, signatureverification may fail in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 12 is a diagram 1200 showing an illustrative example of aderivation of a key using multiple restrictions in accordance with atleast one embodiment. In FIG. 12, a key is derived using multiplerestrictions. In this example, a key and a date restriction are used todetermine a date key (Kdate, in the figure). In the figure, the date isencoded as 20110715, corresponding to Jul. 15, 2011, although dates maybe encoded differently and, generally, information may be encodeddifferently than illustrated in the figures. The date key is used with aregional restriction to derive a regional key, Kregion. In this example,the region is encoded with a regional identifier “USA-zone-1,” which maycorrespond one of several regions in the United States. The key Kregionis used with a service restriction to derive a service key, Kservice. Inthis example, the service is a virtual computer system service, encodedby its acronym VCS. The key Kservice is used with a request identifierto derive a signing key, that is, a key used to sign requests to aservice. In this example, the request identifier is “vcs_request” whichmay correspond to a particular type of request that may be submitted tothe VCS service. For instance, “vcs_request” may correspond to a requestto provision, stop, or otherwise modify a virtual computer system. Thesigning key is used to generate a signature that may be submitted withrequests. The signature may be generated in any suitable manner, such asdescribed above.

As illustrated in FIG. 12, the request may be canonicalized to form amessage, M_(c), which is as input into an HMAC function to generate thesignature. Of course, variations, including variations wherecanonicalization is not necessary and where functions other than HMACfunctions are used, may be utilized in accordance with variousembodiments. In addition, FIG. 12 shows a particular example derivationof a signature in accordance with an embodiment. However, more or fewerrestrictions may be used in deriving the signature and restrictions maybe used in a different order than illustrated. In addition, while FIG.12 shows derivation of a signature, the techniques may be applied toderive other objects that may not be considered signatures in allapplications. For example, the techniques illustrated in FIG. 12 (andelsewhere) may be used generally to derive keys.

FIG. 13 is an illustrative example of a function 1300 for deriving asignature, in accordance with at least one embodiment. As illustrated inFIG. 13, the signature is calculated as:HMAC(HMAC(HMAC(HMAC(HMAC(K,date),region),service),protocol),Mc).In this example, K is a key, “date” is an encoding of a date, “region”is an encoding of an identifier of a region, “service” is an encoding ofan identifier of a service, “protocol” corresponds to a particularmessage encoding protocol, and M_(c) is a canonicalized message. Thus,as illustrated in FIG. 13, the signature is computed by computing thesame HMAC function multiple times, each time with a differentrestriction as an input to the HMAC function. The signing key, in thisexample, is:HMAC(HMAC(HMAC(HMAC(K,date),region),service),protocol)which itself is derived by use of the HMAC function multiple times, eachtime with a different restriction.

In the example of FIG. 13, the various restrictions each define a domainand the intersection of the defined domains defines the manner in whichthe signature generated with the signing key would be valid. In thisspecific example, a signature generated with the signing key illustratedin FIG. 13 would be valid on the date specified, in the regionspecified, and for the service specified using the protocol specified.Thus, if a request is signed using the signing key, but on a differentdate than specified by the input to the signing key, the signature tothe request may be considered unverified, even if the request was madefor the specified service and in the specified region.

As with other embodiments described herein, variations are considered asbeing within the scope of the present disclosure. For instance, FIG. 13shows repeated use of an HMAC function. Multiple functions may be usedto derive a signature and, in some embodiments, HMAC functions are notused in every part of the derivation. Also, as noted, differentrestrictions and different numbers of restrictions may also be used invarious embodiments.

Key derivation may be performed in numerous ways in accordance withvarious embodiments. For instance, a single computing device couldcompute a signing key, in accordance with some embodiments. Inaccordance with other embodiments, multiple computing devices maycollectively compute a signing key. As a specific illustrative example,referring to FIG. 13, one computer may computeKregion=HMAC(HMAC(K,date),region)and another computer may computeSigning Key=HMAC(Kregion,Service).

As another example, a separate computer system may perform a differentlayer in the computation of the signing key. Referring to the example inthe previous paragraph, instead of a single computer computing Kregion,one computer may computeKdate=HMAC(K,date)and another computer may computeKregion=HMAC(Kdate,region).FIG. 14 is an illustrative example of how multiple key derivation may beperformed and used in accordance with at least one embodiment. Inparticular, FIG. 14 shows an example diagram 1400 illustrating membersof a distributed set of computer systems collectively computing asigning key (or other key, in various other embodiments). As shown inFIG. 14, each member of the set is a key provider computer system 1402that generates a key and provides the generated key to another computersystem. For example, a key provider labeled Key Provider₁ obtains a keyK (from another source, or by generating the key itself), and uses thekey and a restriction, labeled R₁ to generate a key K₁. Key Provider₁passes the key K₁ to Key Provider₂, which uses K₂ and anotherrestriction, R₂, to generate another key K₂. Key Provider₂ passes thekey K₂ to Key Provider₃, which uses K₃ and another restriction, R₃, togenerate another key K₃. Depending on how many key providers there arein a particular embodiment, this process may continue until KeyProvider_(N−1) passes a key K_(N−1) to Key Provider_(N), which usesK_(N−1) and another restriction, R_(N), to generate another a signingKey, K_(N). The key K_(N) is then passed to a verifier computer system1404. The key K or any key(s) derived from K (generally referred to asK_(i) in the figure) may also be passed to a signer computer system1406, such as through a secure key-exchange algorithm.

The signer computer system 1406 may also, in various embodiments,generate K_(N) on its own if, for example, the restrictions R₁-R_(N) aremade available to the signer and/or made publicly available. Inaddition, the signer computer system 1406 may perform only part of theprocess for deriving K_(N) on its own in various embodiments. Forinstance, the signer may obtain (perhaps from an appropriate keyprovider computer system) K_(i), for some integer i that is less than Nand restrictions R_(i+1) through R_(N). The signer may then use K_(i)and restrictions R_(i+1) through R_(N) to generate the signing key,K_(N). Other variations are also considered as being within the scope ofthe present disclosure.

The signer computer system 1406 may use the key K_(N) to sign messagesto be verified by the verifier 1404. For instance, as illustrated, thesigner 1406 computes the signature S=HMAC(K_(N), M_(C)), where M_(C) isa canonicalized version of a message M, also sent to the verifier.Because the verifier has K_(N), the verifier can independentlycanonicalize the message M and compute HMAC(K_(N), M_(C)) to determineif the result of the computation matches the received signature S.

It should be noted that variations of the process illustrated in FIG.14, and other processes described herein, while shown as involvingmultiple use of HMAC functions, multiple different functions may be usedto derive keys. For instance, different types of message authenticationcode (MAC) functions may be used at different times in deriving a key.For example, the output of one type of MAC function may be used as thebasis for input into another type of MAC function. Generally, othertypes of functions may be used instead of and/or in addition to HMACfunctions in a key derivation process and, in various embodiments, it isnot necessary to use the same type of function multiple times to derivea key, but different functions may be used each time a function isrequired.

FIG. 15 is a diagram 1500 illustrating an example manner in which keysmay be derived using multiple restrictions, in accordance with at leastone embodiment. The example shown in FIG. 15 refers to customers, suchas customers of a computing resource provider. However, as noted, thetechniques described herein, including techniques described inconnection with FIG. 15, may be used in numerous other contexts.

As shown, a customer key, K_(cust), is part of a set of customer longterm keys, each of which may be keys used by a customer for a period oftime, such as until the customer updates the key, is assigned a new key,or otherwise changes the key. The keys may also be used indefinitely byone or more customers. The customer key, K_(cust), is used to derive oneor more region keys, such as in a manner illustrated above. For example,as illustrated in FIG. 15, two region keys may be generated, such as bycomputing HMAC(K_(cust), USA-E-1) and HMAC(K_(cust), USA-N-1), whereUSA-E-1 and USA-N-1 are identifiers of respective regions. Similarly,the region keys may be used to derive date keys whose validity may berestricted by the date used to encode the date keys. Each of the datekeys may be used to derive service keys, such as in a manner describedabove.

In this manner, in various embodiments, the service keys may be usedwith respective services only on the date and in the regions used toencode the keys. New date keys may be generated for each day, whereasregion keys and customer long term keys may be generated less often.Multiple restriction key derivation such as illustrated in FIG. 15 andelsewhere in the present disclosure provides numerous advantages. Forexample, by deriving the key in the manner described in connection withFIG. 15 if a signing key is compromised (e.g. maliciously obtained by athird party), the security breach is limited to a particular region, ona particular day, and in connection with a particular service. Otherservices would remain unaffected. Similar advantages are applicable inother ways that keys may be derived.

FIG. 16, for example, is a diagram 1600 illustrating another examplemanner in which keys may be derived, in accordance with at least oneembodiment. FIG. 16 illustrates concepts in a manner similar to that ofFIG. 16. In FIG. 16, however, customer long term keys are used to derivedate keys. The date keys are used to derive region keys. The region keysare used to derive service keys. Derivation may be accomplished inaccordance with the various embodiments described herein.

FIG. 17 is a diagram 1700 illustrating yet another example manner inwhich keys may be derived, in accordance with at least one embodiment.In FIG. 17, customer long term keys are used to derive month keys. Themonth keys are used to derive regional keys. The regional keys are usedto derive date keys. The date keys are used to define service keys. Thederivation of the various keys may be done in a manner consistent withthe above description.

As discussed, various techniques of the present disclosure allow for anovel way of generating sessions. A session may be a period of time forwhich a set of one or more actions are allowed, where expiration (orother termination) of the session causes the set of one or more actionsto be disallowed. FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing an illustrative exampleof a process 1800 for initiating a session, in accordance with at leastone embodiment. The process 1800 may be performed by any suitablecomputing device or collectively by any suitable collection of computingdevices. For example, the process 1800 may be performed by a clientdevice of a customer of a computing resources provider. As anotherexample, in another embodiment, referring to FIG. 3, one of the servicesof a fault zone may be a session service and one or more computingdevices participating in providing the service may perform the process1800.

Returning to FIG. 18, in an embodiment, the process 1800 includesobtaining 1802 a key, K. The key K may be any suitable key, such as akey derived using other keys, such as in a manner described above. Forexample, the key K may have been propagated to a computing deviceparticipating in performance of the process 1800. At some point (such asupon obtaining the key K, as illustrated in the Figure), in anembodiment, a request to initiate a session may be received 1804. Therequest may be an electronic request, such as described above. Inaddition, the request, in an embodiment, is signed and verified usingvarious techniques of the present disclosure. Also, the request may be adifferent request depending on a particular environment used toimplement the process 1800. For example, if the process 1800 isperformed by a client device (such as a customer device of a customer ofa computing resources provider) to generate a session, the request toinitiate the session may be received by a module of the client device.

In an embodiment, session parameters for the session are determined1806. The session parameters may be information that indicates one ormore restrictions on the session being generated. Example parametersinclude, but are not limited to, duration, identifiers of acceptableusers of a session key to be generated, one or more services with whichthe session key to be generated is usable, restrictions on actions thatmay be performed using the session key, any of the restrictionsdescribed above, and others. The parameters may be encodedelectronically according to predefined formatting requirements to ensurethat computations involving a session key to be generated areconsistent. For example, dates may be required to be encoded in theformat YYYYMMDD. Other parameters may have their own formattingrequirements. In addition, determining the session parameters may beperformed in various ways. For example, the parameters may be defaultparameters for a session, such that a session key is only usable for arange of actions permitted to the requestor of the session initiationand for a predefined period of time (such as a twenty-four hour period).As another example, parameters may be provided as part of or otherwisein connection with the received request. For example, the parameters maybe generated according to user input from the requestor and encodedaccording to a predefined schema.

In an embodiment, once the parameters are determined, the parameters areused to compute 1808 a session key, K_(S). Computing the session keyK_(S) may be performed in numerous ways. For example, in one embodiment,the session key K_(S) may be computed as (or otherwise based at least inpart on)HMAC(K,Session_Parameters)where Session_Parameters is an encoding of the parameters that weredetermined 1806. Session_Parameters may be encoded in a predefinedmanner that ensures for computational consistency. The session key K_(S)may also be computed in other ways, such as in a manner described belowin connection with FIG. 19.

Once the session key K_(S) is computed 1808, in an embodiment, thesession key K_(S) is provided for use. Providing the session key may beperformed in numerous ways in various embodiments. For example, thesession key may be provided to a module of the requestor to enable therequestor to sign messages with the session key. The session key mayalso be provided over a network to another device to enable the otherdevice to sign messages with the session key. For example, the sessionkey may also be provided to a delagatee for which the session isinitiated. For instance, the requestor may have specified a delegatee inor otherwise in connection with the request to initiate the session. Thesession key may be provided electronically according to informationprovided by the requestor (i.e. delegator), such as an electronic mailor other electronic address.

As noted, FIG. 19 shows an illustrative example of a process 1900 thatmay be used to generate a signature, in accordance with an embodiment.The process 1900 may be performed by one or more computing devices, suchas one or more computing devices performing the process 1800 describedabove in connection with FIG. 18. The process 1900, as illustrated inFIG. 19, includes receiving session parameters, such as described above.With the session parameters having been obtained, in an embodiment, anintermediate key, K_(i+1) is computed 1904 as:K _(i+1)=HMAC(K _(i) ,P _(i)),where K_(i) may be the key K in the description of FIG. 18 for the firstcomputation of K_(i+1), and P_(i) is the i^(th) parameter of the sessionparameters. The session parameters may be ordered according to apredetermined ordering to ensure computational consistency of the keysignature.

In an embodiment, a determination is made 1906 whether there areadditional parameters to be used in generating the session key. If thereare additional parameters, in an embodiment, the index i is increased1908 by one and K_(i+1) is again computed 1904. If, however, it isdetermined that there are no additional parameters, then K_(S) is set1910 to the value of K_(i+1).

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process 2000for obtaining access to one or more computing resources during a sessionin accordance with at least one embodiment. It should be noted that,while FIG. 20 presents a process 2000 for obtaining access to one ormore computing resources, as with other processes described herein, theprocess 2000 may be modified for any situation where signature processesare used. The process 2000 may be performed by a computer system of auser requesting access to one or more computing resources, such as aclient computer system illustrated in FIG. 1 and/or a customer computersystem described elsewhere herein. In an embodiment, the process 2000includes obtaining a session key K_(S). The session key may be obtainedin any suitable manner, such as in an electronic message. The sessionkey may be obtained from a computer system of a delegator of access tothe one or more computing resources or another computer system, such asa computer system operating in connection with the one or more computersystems that performed a process for generating K_(S).

In an embodiment, a request R is generated 2004. The request R may be amessage, such as described above. The request R is then canonicalized2006, in an embodiment, and a signature is computed 2008 from thecanonicalized message, such as by computing the signature as (orotherwise based at least in part on) HMAC(K_(S), R_(C)). Upon generationof the signature, the signature S and the request R are provided 2010.For example, as discussed above, the signature S and request R may beprovided electronically to an interface of a computer system thatparticipates in managing requests and verifying signatures. Thesignature S and request R, as with signatures and messages in general,may be provided together in a single communication, in separatecommunications, or collectively by multiple communications. Otherinformation may also be provided in connection with the signature S andrequest R. For instance, identification information may be provided toenable a verifier to select a proper key for generating a signature withwhich to verify the received signature. The identification may be, forinstance, an identifier of a key that should be used in generating asignature for comparison. Other information may also be provided andused, as appropriate in the various embodiments.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart showing an illustrative example of a process 2100for determining whether to grant requested access to one or morecomputing resources in accordance with at least one embodiment. Asillustrated in FIG. 12, the process 2100 includes obtaining 2102 asigning key K_(S). As with other recitations herein of obtaining asigning key, the signing key can be obtained in various ways, such as byreceiving the signing key from another source, retrieving the signingkey from memory, computing the signing key from information available,and the like.

In an embodiment, the received request R is canonicalized to form R_(C),such as in a manner described above. It should be noted that, as withother processes described herein, variations are possible. For example,a computer system performing a variation of the process 2100 (or anotherprocess) may simply receive the canonicalized message andcanonicalization may be performed by another computing device. Returningto the description of FIG. 21, a signature S′ is computed as (orotherwise based at least in part on) HMAC(K_(S), R_(C)). The computedsigning key S′ is compared 2110 with the received signature S todetermine whether the two signatures are equivalent. If the twosignatures are determined to not be equivalent, the session isdetermined 2112 to be unvalidated and appropriate action, such as denialof the request, may be taken. If the two signatures are determined to beequivalent, the session is validated 2114 and appropriate action, suchas granting access to one or more computing resources, may be taken.

Techniques of the present disclosure, as mentioned, may be used to allowdelegation of authority. FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing an illustrativeexample of a process 2200 for delegating authority in accordance with atleast one embodiment. The process 2200 may be performed by a computingdevice, such as a computing device of a user attempting to delegateaccess to one or more computing resources, or a computing device of acomputing resource provider, or any suitable computing device. Asillustrated in the figure, the process 2200 includes obtaining 2202 asession key K_(si). The obtained session key K_(si) may be obtained inany suitable way, such as a manner in which keys described above aredescribed as being obtained. Further, the session key may be a key thatwas generated as part of a process to delegate access to one or morecomputing resources. For example, the session key may have beengenerated by performing the process 2200, or a variation thereof.

In an embodiment, session parameters are determined 2204. The sessionparameters may be determined in any suitable way, such as describedabove in connection with FIG. 18. With the session parameters determined2204, a new session key K_(S(i+1)) may be generated, such as describedabove, including as described above in connection with FIG. 19. Oncegenerated, the new session key may be provided to a delegatee. Forexample, the session key may be sent in an electronic message to thedelegatee. The session key may be provided directly or indirectly to thedelegatee. For example, the session key may be given to the delegatorand the delegator may be responsible for providing the session key toone or more delegatees. Other information may also be provided to thedelegatee. For instance, the session parameters may be provided to thedelegatee to enable the delegatee to provide the session parameters withsignatures, thereby enabling a recipient (e.g. verifier) of the sessionparameters to generate expected signatures to verify if the providedsignatures are valid. For instance, the recipient may use the parametersto generate a session key from a secret credential or a key derivedtherefrom and use that session key to generate a signature for acanonicalized version of a corresponding signed message. Generally, theparameters may be made available to the recipient of a signature in anysuitable manner to enable the recipient to verify message signatures andthe delegatee does not necessarily need access to the parameters if therecipient has access to the parameters independent of the delegatee.

FIG. 23, for example, shows a diagram 2300 illustrating how privilegesmay be delegated multiple times. A delegator 2302 may wish to grant oneor more access privileges to a delegatee 2304. The delegatee 2304,however, in this example, may wish to provide one or more privileges toanother delegatee 2306. Thus, in this example, the delegatee 2304 maybecome a delegator. Similarly, the delegatee 2306 may wish to provideaccess to another delegatee and that delegatee may wish to grant accessto another delegatee and so on until finally one or more privileges aregranted to yet another delegatee 2308.

Thus, in this example, the original delegator 2302 submits a delegationrequest to a session-based authentication service 2310 which may be aservice of a fault zone, as described above. In response, in anembodiment, the session-based authentication service generates andprovides a session key to the delegator 2302, such as described above inconnection with FIG. 22. The delegator 2302 then, in an embodiment,provides the session key that it received from the session-basedauthentication service 2310 to the delegatee 2304. The delegatee 2304may provide the session key to another delegatee 2306. In this mannerthe delegatee 2306 would receive the scope of privileges received by thedelegatee 2304 that would be the same as the scope of the privilegesprovided to the delegatee 2306.

However, also illustrated in FIG. 23, the delegatee 2304 may submit adelegation request to the session-based authentication service 2310 andreceive a different session key that had been generated by thesession-based authentication service 2310 in response to the delegationrequest. The delegatee 2304 may provide this new session key to the nextdelegatee 2306. The next delegatee 2306 may provide the session key toyet another delegatee, or as described above may also submit adelegation request to the session-based authentication service 2310which would then generate a session key and provide the session key tothe delegatee 2306 that submitted the delegation request. As indicatedin FIG. 23, this may continue and one or more of the delegatees mayattempt to use a session key that he or she has received.

In this particular example, a delegatee 2308 provides the session key toa computing resource 2312 in connection with a request. As above, therequest may include the session key although the session key may beprovided separately from the request. The computing resource 2312 may beany of the computing resources described above or, generally, anycomputing resource. A policy management service 2314 may include averifier, such as described above, and may, upon request of thecomputing resource, validate requests. The computing resource 2312 andpolicy management service 2314 may also be a single component, althoughillustrated separately in FIG. 23. Further, while FIG. 23 shows a singlesession-based authentication service 2310 being used to generate sessionkeys, various embodiments may utilize different session-basedauthentication services.

As noted above, numerous variations in addition to the illustrativeexamples provided herein are considered as being within the scope of thepresent disclosure. FIG. 24 shows a diagram 2400 representing anillustrative example of a manner in which keys may be derived using keysfrom multiple authorities, in accordance with an embodiment. In FIG. 23,a customer key, K_(cust), is from a set of customer keys maintained by acomputing resource provider. As with embodiments described above, whileFIG. 23 discussed an illustrative example in connection with a computingresource provider, other variations are considered as being within thescope of the present disclosure.

In FIG. 24, a set of authority keys are maintained, where each authoritykey corresponds to a different domain of authority. Each authority keyderived from the customer key K_(cust) may be, for example, propagatedto different fault zones, such as described above. The fault zones maybe, for instance, data centers in different political jurisdictions. Itshould be noted, however, that while FIG. 24 shows each dividedauthority key having been derived from a single customer key, K_(cust),variations are possible. For example, the divided authority keys may beindependently derived. As another example, one or more divided authoritykeys may be derived from a common key, one or more others may be derivedfrom another common key, and the like.

In an embodiment, multiple authorities are able to combine authority toallow access to one or more computing resources. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 24, subsets of divided authority keys may be used toderive other keys. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 23, two authoritykeys, labeled Auth1 and Auth2, are used to derive a merged authoritykey. To derive the merged authority key, in an embodiment, a value ofHMAC(f(Auth1, Auth2), R) is computed, where R is some restriction, suchas described above. In this example, f is a function of dividedauthority keys, and may be more than two-dimensional. For instance, thethree divided authority keys, Auth1, Auth2, and Auth3 are used, asillustrated in FIG. 23, in a function f(Auth1, Auth2, Auth3) to computethe merged authority key as (or otherwise based at least in part on)HMAC(f(Auth1, Auth2, Auth3), R).

Numerous variations of constructing keys from different authorities areconsidered as being within the scope of the present disclosure. Forexample, an authority may generate (or have generated) a key (K_(spec))using various embodiments of the present disclosure. Each authorityK_(spec) may correspond to a partial key seed, which may be a publiclyavailable encoding (or encoding otherwise available to a message signorand signature verifier) of restrictions used to generate its K_(spec).For example, a partial key seed may be (K1/20110810/usa-east-1/DDS,K2/20110810/org_name/jpl/DDS), where each string between slashes is arestriction. Such an encoding of information may be referred to as a keypath. As a more general example, a partial key seed may be X₁/ . . ./X_(n), where each X_(i) (for i between 1 and n) corresponds to aparameter, such as a parameter described above. The partial key seedsfrom the applicable authorities may be encoded as an n-tuple, referredto as a key seed. An n-tuple for the example immediately above may be(spec₁, spec₂, . . . , spec_(n)), where each entry is a key path for acorresponding K_(spec). It should be noted that the key seed (and/or keypath) encodes the precise key use (full restriction among all authorizedkeys) that the key holder is authorizing by producing a signature/key.Further, with partial key seeds available to both message signors andsignature verifiers, arbitrary ordering of the parameters used togenerate keys and signatures is possible since, for example, a messagesignor has information that specifies the order the parameters were usedto generate a signing key and can, therefore, generate the signing keyand message accordingly.

A value for HMAC(Kspec, key-seed) may then be obtained or computed foreach of the applicable authorities, that is, the authorities for which akey is to be generated. This value may be computed by a client obtaininga signing key to sign messages or may be computed by another device andsubsequently provided to the client, in various embodiments. Each ofthese values may be referred to as partial keys, for the purpose of thefollowing discussion. The semantics of each of these partial keys, in anembodiment, are that they are valid only when combined with the belowconstruction (and certain variations of the below construction) and,when combined, form the intersection of specializations encoded in thekey seeds.

To generate a signing key to sign a message, a value forK _(S)=HMAC(partial_key₁+ . . . +partial_key_(n),key-seed)where “+” may refer to some associative operation on partial keys thatsurround the symbol in the formula. The “+” symbol may be, for example,an exclusive OR (XOR) operation on bits comprising the partial keys. The“+” symbol may also refer to some other suitable operation or function.

To verify a signature used to sign a message, a verifier may obtain eachpartial key, combine the partial keys as above to form a signing key,sign a received message and compare the result with an expected resultto verify the signature, such as discussed above.

The various embodiments further can be implemented in a wide variety ofoperating environments, which in some cases can include one or more usercomputers, computing devices, or processing devices which can be used tooperate any of a number of applications. User or client devices caninclude any of a number of general purpose personal computers, such asdesktop or laptop computers running a standard operating system, as wellas cellular, wireless, and handheld devices running mobile software andcapable of supporting a number of networking and messaging protocols.Such a system also can include a number of workstations running any of avariety of commercially-available operating systems and other knownapplications for purposes such as development and database management.These devices also can include other electronic devices, such as dummyterminals, thin-clients, gaming systems, and other devices capable ofcommunicating via a network.

Most embodiments utilize at least one network that would be familiar tothose skilled in the art for supporting communications using any of avariety of commercially-available protocols, such as TCP/IP, OSI, FTP,UPnP, NFS, CIFS, and AppleTalk. The network can be, for example, a localarea network, a wide-area network, a virtual private network, theInternet, an intranet, an extranet, a public switched telephone network,an infrared network, a wireless network, and any combination thereof.

In embodiments utilizing a Web server, the Web server can run any of avariety of server or mid-tier applications, including HTTP servers, FTPservers, CGI servers, data servers, Java servers, and businessapplication servers. The server(s) also may be capable of executingprograms or scripts in response requests from user devices, such as byexecuting one or more Web applications that may be implemented as one ormore scripts or programs written in any programming language, such asJava®, C, C# or C++, or any scripting language, such as Perl, Python, orTCL, as well as combinations thereof. The server(s) may also includedatabase servers, including without limitation those commerciallyavailable from Oracle®, Microsoft®, Sybase®, and IBM®.

The environment can include a variety of data stores and other memoryand storage media as discussed above. These can reside in a variety oflocations, such as on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) oneor more of the computers or remote from any or all of the computersacross the network. In a particular set of embodiments, the informationmay reside in a storage-area network (“SAN”) familiar to those skilledin the art. Similarly, any necessary files for performing the functionsattributed to the computers, servers, or other network devices may bestored locally and/or remotely, as appropriate. Where a system includescomputerized devices, each such device can include hardware elementsthat may be electrically coupled via a bus, the elements including, forexample, at least one central processing unit (CPU), at least one inputdevice (e.g., a mouse, keyboard, controller, touch screen, or keypad),and at least one output device (e.g., a display device, printer, orspeaker). Such a system may also include one or more storage devices,such as disk drives, optical storage devices, and solid-state storagedevices such as random access memory (“RAM”) or read-only memory(“ROM”), as well as removable media devices, memory cards, flash cards,etc.

Such devices also can include a computer-readable storage media reader,a communications device (e.g., a modem, a network card (wireless orwired), an infrared communication device, etc.), and working memory asdescribed above. The computer-readable storage media reader can beconnected with, or configured to receive, a computer-readable storagemedium, representing remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storagedevices as well as storage media for temporarily and/or more permanentlycontaining, storing, transmitting, and retrieving computer-readableinformation. The system and various devices also typically will includea number of software applications, modules, services, or other elementslocated within at least one working memory device, including anoperating system and application programs, such as a client applicationor Web browser. It should be appreciated that alternate embodiments mayhave numerous variations from that described above. For example,customized hardware might also be used and/or particular elements mightbe implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, suchas applets), or both. Further, connection to other computing devicessuch as network input/output devices may be employed.

Storage media and computer readable media for containing code, orportions of code, can include any appropriate media known or used in theart, including storage media and communication media, such as but notlimited to volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmissionof information such as computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules, or other data, including RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memoryor other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk (DVD) orother optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which canbe used to store the desired information and which can be accessed bythe a system device. Based on the disclosure and teachings providedherein, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate other waysand/or methods to implement the various embodiments.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, beevident that various modifications and changes may be made thereuntowithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention asset forth in the claims.

Other variations are within the spirit of the present disclosure. Thus,while the disclosed techniques are susceptible to various modificationsand alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereofare shown in the drawings and have been described above in detail. Itshould be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit theinvention to the specific form or forms disclosed, but on the contrary,the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions,and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention, asdefined in the appended claims.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in thecontext of describing the disclosed embodiments (especially in thecontext of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both thesingular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearlycontradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,”and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning“including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. The term“connected” is to be construed as partly or wholly contained within,attached to, or joined together, even if there is something intervening.Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as ashorthand method of referring individually to each separate valuefalling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and eachseparate value is incorporated into the specification as if it wereindividually recited herein. All methods described herein can beperformed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein orotherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and allexamples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, isintended merely to better illuminate embodiments of the invention anddoes not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unlessotherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construedas indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice ofthe invention.

Preferred embodiments of this disclosure are described herein, includingthe best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention.Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to thoseof ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. Theinventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations asappropriate, and the inventors intend for the invention to be practicedotherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, thisinvention includes all modifications and equivalents of the subjectmatter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicablelaw. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in allpossible variations thereof is encompassed by the invention unlessotherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.

All references, including publications, patent applications, andpatents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the sameextent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicatedto be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entiretyherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for managing accessto one or more computing resources of a computing resource provider, theone or more computing resources of the computing resource provider beingpart of a logical grouping of computing resources in a key zone of aplurality of key zones, the method comprising: under the control of oneor more computer systems configured with executable instructions,obtaining, from a central key authority, a session key corresponding tothe key zone, the session key having been generated by at least applyinga hash-based message authentication code function to a secret credentialand a first set of one or more session parameters; receiving anelectronic request to access one or more computing resources and asignature for the electronic request that was generated based at leastin part on the secret credential and a second set of one or more sessionparameters; generating, by the one or more computer systems, a referencesignature by at least applying the hash-based message authenticationcode function to at least the electronic request, and the obtainedsession key; and providing access to the one or more computingresources, in response to the request, when the generated referencesignature is equivalent to the received signature.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the sessionkey includes deriving, based at least in part on the electronic request,the first set of one or more session parameters.
 3. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining,by the one or more computer systems, whether the request complies withthe first set of one or more parameters and wherein providing theelectronically requested access is contingent on determining that therequest complies with the first set of one or more parameters.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein at least one of theparameters corresponds to a limit on an amount of time the session keyis valid.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein atleast one of the parameters corresponds to one or more location-basedlimits on use of the session key.
 6. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 3, wherein at least one of the parameters corresponds to one ormore computing resources with which the session key is usable.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the message is receivedfrom a message signor computer system that generated the signature froma session key that is based at least in part on the secret credentialand that was generated by a computer system different from the one ormore computer systems and the message signor computer system.
 8. Acomputer-implemented method for managing access to one or more computingresources of a computing resource provider, the one or more computingresources of the computing resource provider being part of a logicalgrouping of computing resources in a key zone of a plurality of keyzones, comprising: under the control of one or more computer systemsconfigured with executable instructions, obtaining a session key, thesession key having been generated by at least applying a function to atleast a secret credential and a first set of one or more sessionparameters, the session key being associated with the key zone;receiving an electronic request to access the one or more computingresources and a signature for the electronic request generated based atleast in part on a second set of one or more parameters; determining, bythe one or more computer systems, whether the received signature isvalid for the request by at least applying the function to at least theelectronic request and the obtained session key, the received signaturebeing determined valid as a result of at least the first set of one ormore parameters being equivalent to the second set of one or moreparameters; and providing the electronically requested access when thegenerated reference signature is equivalent to the received signature.9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the function is ahash function.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, whereinapplying the function includes performing Hash-Based MessageAuthentication Code (HMAC).
 11. The computer-implemented method of claim8, wherein the signature is determinable by applying the function toboth of a first set of inputs comprising the secret credential, therequest, and the first set of one or more parameters and a second set ofinputs comprising the session key and the first set of one or moreparameters.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, furthercomprising determining, by the one or more computer systems, whether therequest complies with the first set of one or more parameters andwherein providing the electronically requested access is contingent ondetermining that the request complies with the first set of one or moreparameters.
 13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein thefirst set of one or more parameters limit an amount of time the sessionkey is usable for a session.
 14. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 8, wherein the first set of one or more parameters correspond to aset of one or more identities that are allowed to use the session key.15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having storedthereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of acomputer system, cause the computer system to at least: obtain a sessionkey generated at least in part by application of a function to at leasta secret credential and a set of one or more session parameters togenerate a session key, the session key corresponding to a grouping ofone or more computing resources in a key zone of a plurality of keyzones; sign, based at least in part on the obtained session key,electronic requests for access to the one or more computing resources,thereby generating signatures for the request; and submit at least thesignatures and the requests for verification by a verifier computingdevice configured to determine whether the submitted signatures matchcorresponding submitted requests and take one or more actions that causethe requests for access to be fulfilled when the submitted signaturesmatch the corresponding submitted requests.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein: the verifierlacks the session key, but has the secret credential; and electronicallysubmitting the signatures and the requests includes submitting the setof one or more parameters.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed bythe one or more processors of the computer system, further cause thecomputer system to: provide the obtained session key and the set of oneor more parameters to another computer system to enable the othercomputer system to sign session requests.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein obtaining thesession key does not require access to the secret credential by thecomputer system.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumof claim 15, wherein the set of one or more parameters characterize atime period outside of which the verifier will not accept requestselectronically signed with the session key.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the function is ahash function.
 21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumof claim 15, wherein application of the function is performed as part ofHash-Based Message Authentication Code (HMAC).
 22. A computer system forproviding access to computing resources, comprising: one or moreprocessors; and memory including instructions that, when executed by theone or more processors, cause the computer system to at least: obtain akey; apply a function to the key and to a set of one or more parametersto generate a session key, the one or more parameters corresponding toone or more restrictions on the session key, the session keycorresponding to one or more computing resources of a key zone of aplurality of key zones; and provide the generated session key to anothercomputing device to enable the other computing device to sign requestsusing the session key in accordance with the set of one or moreparameters.
 23. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the one or moreparameters limit the amount of time the generated session key is usableto sign requests.
 24. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the oneor more parameters limit a set of computing resources to which thesession key can be used to access to the one or more computingresources.
 25. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the set of oneor more parameters are encoded by a document and wherein applying thefunction to the key and to the set of one or more parameters includesapplying the function to the document.
 26. The computer system of claim22, wherein applying the hash function to the key and to the set of oneor more parameters includes calculating a result of applying the hashfunction to at least a first parameter of the set of one or moreparameters and inputting the calculated result into the hash function.27. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the one or more parameterslimit use of the session key to a corresponding location.